6 tips to keep kids and teens safe in the car

From the right hardware to best practices, these tips will ensure easy sailing for drivers and passengers alike.

From the very youngest to the young at heart, there are car safety standards that can help your family stay safe. Follow these 6 tips for an easy trip, each and every time.(Photo: asiseeit, Getty Images)

From toddlers to teens, it’s imperative to consider the safety of your family while in the car. Whether they’re in booster seats, big enough to sit with just a seatbelt or old enough to get behind the wheel, it’s something every parent and driver needs to address. Don’t worry — there are many easy ways to protect the children, from teaching them to buckle up on the school bus to purchasing hands-free devices for GPS and music, which will let them keep their eyes on the road. Here are the best ways to keep the kiddos safe behind the wheel. Remember, when it comes to your family you shouldn’t take chances. Consult with the experts at Bob Johnson Chevrolet about the safest vehicles on the road and take your car in regularly to make sure it is functioning efficiently and securely.

Rear-facing seats

As a new parent, it’s guaranteed that you’re overwhelmed and probably worried about your child’s safety every minute of the day. For the first couple years of a child’s life, you should use a rear-facing car seat. It’ll hinder your ability to interact with them and wipe off whatever fluids they get on themselves, but studies show that, in the case of an accident, infants are five times more likely to survive when using the reverse position.

Booster seats

When your child grows out of its first seat, you should move to a forward-facing seat. Then, depending on the make and model and how quickly the child gets taller and heavier (check the owner’s manual), you’ll have to upgrade to a booster seat. Around pre-school to elementary age, and if they’re able to be safely strapped in, it’s time to let them start with a more comfortable ride in the backseat (and a reminder, kids 13 and under shouldn’t ride in the front because of the danger of getting hit by an airbag). Full-backed versions of these contraptions provide the most protection, but if your child grows out of it, there are simpler items that can keep them stable and comfortable. Aside from South Dakota, the rest of the U.S. mandates that your child must be in a seat until he or she is large enough to be secure in an adult seatbelt that doesn’t cross their throat.

Bus safety

School buses are statistically the safest mode of transportation for kids, but of course you’ll need to teach them a bit about getting on and off, and behaving, once they’re out of your sight. After the “look both ways before crossing the street,” you’ll need to instill the message that they have to stay in their seats, use the seatbelt and resist the urge to get up and play with their friends. That, and not to throw things or yell loudly in any way that might distract the driver.

Distracted driving kills and injures thousands of people a year and texting while on the road is often the case. According to some studies, it’s exponentially more dangerous than driving drunk due to the lack of cognition, taking your eyes off the road and taking at least one hand off the wheel. Thankfully, there are a bunch of speech-to-text apps where you will only need to listen to messages and respond verbally. Some require a subscription, some only work with either Apple or Android devices while some need Bluetooth, but there are enough options that you’ll be able to find something that will keep you in touch with your friends and family without taking your eyes off the road, getting a ticket or worse.

GPS

Just because you have GPS telling you where to go, remember to stay alert. It was a funny bit on The Office when Steve Carell drove into a lake because he followed his device’s directions to a T, but the joke is pretty irrelevant now considering that it’s a thing that has happened on many occasions. In fact, it occurred twice at Vermont’s Lake Champlain within the first weeks of 2018 alone. There’s no doubt that navigational tech is great, but please don’t follow them blindly unless you want to end up driving down the staircase of a park or straight off a dock into the ocean.

Music

If you haven’t made a playlist for your drive, several apps can help you via voice commands. Siri can play you tracks stored on your iPhone or if you have Apple Music. Spotify now has a voice feature - you’ll need to turn the feature on in the app and then keep it open, but then you can ask for specific songs, playlists, podcasts or have it come up with a radio station on the fly. But if you really want to get all of these things and more in one app, try Hound. Created by the company by Soundhound, it can play music, give you directions, recommend nearby businesses, send texts, set reminders and alarms, play trivia with you and even tell you how many calories are in a specific dish. This is particularly important to teach your teens, who are often distracted by loud music and ever-changing playlists.

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